Brookline begins work on linking Emerald Necklace over Route 9

Wednesday

Mar 2, 2016 at 11:46 AMMar 2, 2016 at 11:46 AM

Jenna Fisher jfisher@wickedlocal.com @JennaFisherTAB

After decades of talk about improving the area along the Emerald Necklace path where pedestrians and cyclists often have to play a game of Frogger in order to cross Route 9, Brookline is slated to break ground on a bicycle and pedestrian crossing improvement project as early as next month.

“We will mobilize in April. You’ll probably see some of the site demolition as early as March,” said Director of Parks and Open Space Erin Gallentine to Selectmen last week.

Selectmen voted to award a contract with UEL Contractors in the amount of $1,436,790 for the construction of a safe crossing for pedestrians and bicycles across Route 9 at River Road to connect the Emerald Necklace Park path from Olmsted Park on the south to Riverway Park to the north.

The current situation for bicyclists and pedestrians traveling between the Riverway and Olmsted Park is across two lanes of traffic through a break in the median on Washington Street at Pond Avenue and River Road in Brookline and across another two lanes of traffic.

The current at-grade crossing doesn’t have a defined crosswalk, ADA compliant access, or any designation as a path.

Gallentine said construction would include safety improvements intended to reduce the speeds of car turning movements; pedestrian actuated crossing signal, associated path, markings, a paved 12-foot wide ADA compliant multi-use recreational path connecting Olmsted Park to the Riverway along River Road and Brookline Avenue; stormwater runoff improvements; and tweaks to the landscape in an effort to provide a more visually attractive park area.

Construction, scheduled to begin as early as March, should be finished by late fall, said Gallentine.

“It’s the result of tremendous staff collaboration,” she said.

A state Department of Conservation and Recreation Partnership Grant is funding the project.

“We’ve been talking about this for 10 years, maybe,” said Chairman of the Board of Selectman Neil Wishinsky.

Gallentine said the town has been discussing plans to do something to the area, which borders Boston for the more than 20 years. “[But] plans were shelved due to jurisdiction issues,” she said. “We’re thrilled where we’re finally in a place where we can do it.”